Albino Corn vs Californian King

[rayvb]

Hi There

I have an Albino Corn thats 6 months old, had him from when he 3 weeks old. He got to be extremely tame and didn't mind me "messing" around with him.

My girlfriend bought herself a Californian King a week ago. The snake is about a month old. When she came to visit me with her snake my snake went made, it seemed as if he lost his mind!!

I have since realized that allot of snakes are extremely scared of the Californian King as it likes to eat other snake, but here is my problem now:

1. He is now extremely aggressive towards me and bites me as soon as i put my hand in his enclosure.

2. It always seems as if he is uneasy, or nervous?...

Its been two days since the encounter with the Californian King. Any advice on how to calm him down and to win his "trust" again would be nice

Is this a common issue with corn snakes when they encounter other types of snakes?

Thanks.

Raymond
South Africa

[John Pilling]

This sounds like a typical reaction, and the best advice it to let the corn calm down on it's own for 3-4 days without disturbance or feeding (just change water, but apart from that don't go in).

After 3-4 days try him with a meal and see if he's interested, if he eats without a problem, then leave for a couple of days then go in and try handling him.

He might still be a little nervous and tag you, but don't be put off, a young corn snakes bite isn't powerful and causes no damage (it's rare for an adult corn to draw blood unless it chews on your finger). Once he's out he should settle fairly soon within a minute or 2, and should be back to his normal self after a few handling sessions like this. It is rare for a corn to stay aggressive, so bear with it and act as confidently as you can (they pick up on nervousness and this can make the situation worse, even if you are nervous try not to show it when handling).

If he refuses to eat, then leave it another 5-6 days then try again with a meal, but don't handle him till you've tried the second feeding. If he doesn't take the second meal offered then we'll work through a couple of different ways to improve things, but over all don't worry, they are usually fine after a few days of peace and quiet.

Keep me posted on the progress, and any further questions don't hesitate to ask. Good luck .

[rayvb]

Hi John

Thanks for the advice. It really got a fright when the whole thing happened and i am very nervous to handle him again. I'll definitely keep you posted. Thanks for your time.

Raymond

[John Pilling]

No problem, i'm on about 4-8 times a day (it's my site).

Just try and relax and be confident (it can be hard i know, i got similar advice when i started out and acting confident isn't easy).

Most situations like this tho, just a little time is all thats needed, and some snakes need a little longer then others (your's sounds like a confident snake before this incident, so I'll bet he'll be fine in a week or 2).

[rayvb]

Thanks.

Its amazing that nature has this built in. I battle to understand how my snake knows that he must stay away from the King! The King never reacted funny in any way, its really amazing!

Raymond

[John Pilling]

That is so true. I think from research that it's just thousands of years of evolution, in which the snake hasn't changed that much and the instincts are the same now as they were during the dinosaur era (well from a long time ago anyway).

In the wild, king snakes do actually hunt other snakes for prey if 1 was available, especially if it discovers some other snake eggs, it'll just sit and wait for them to hatch then wolf the lot down (more so if it's just eaten a big meal and can afford to wait a couple of weeks).

[rayvb]

Ok. Thanks ;D

Going to leave work soon, will try your advice and let you know soon what the outcome is. You have a really great website going here, and i really appreciate you time and effort to help others!

[John Pilling]

No worries, i'm just glad to give something back and help out like what a few other did for me when i started out.

[rayvb]

Hi John

I just would like to say that everything is now ok!!:-) My snake has calmed down so much so that i can handle him now without him biting me! Its been 4 days sice the King encounter and it looks like he's completely forgotten about it:-) Maybe he suffers from memory loss.lol

Anyways, thanks for your advice, I really appreciate it.

Raymond

[John Pilling]

No problem, i'm glad it's sorted for you. Good result.